Thirteenth-century scholars calculated Islam’s imminent demise from astrology and the Mongol sack of Baghdad

Evidence

For Bacon, the current situation was dire: a divided, apathetic, unphilosophical Christendom was surrounded by numerous infidel peoples, against which it sent ineffectual crusading armies and poorly prepared missionaries. Yet there was cause for hope: the predictions of the Apocalypse, con- firmed by the scientific calculations of Saracen astrologers and by the Mongol sack of Baghdad, showed that Islam had at most thirty years ahead of it. The need to educate Franciscan missionaries in Bacon’s intellectual system was urgent, but the hopes for success were good. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 1162

Categorization

• XREF: Grounds a trope the vault’s existing claims note—the medieval conviction of Islam’s imminent end that anticipates modern declensionist Islamophobia.